San Pedro Fish Market: Carnival by the Sea

Two words: lobster claw. Not the food, the game. What game? You know the claw machine at an arcade where a claw descends into a pit of stuffed animals and, guided by your hand, fails to grasp a prize? That, but with live lobsters. And that’s just the beginning.

Like a lobster being harassed by an arcade-game claw, you will feel completely overwhelmed by the scene at San Pedro Fish Market in San Pedro’s Ports O’ Call Village. Mariachi bands, large crowds, cold beer, and the Pacific Ocean make up one of the most unique outdoor dining experiences in Los Angeles. The food: giant heaps of shrimp, scallops, and squid mixed in a slurry of grilled onions, peppers, and potatoes drenched in butter and spices, served with long loafs of garlic bread. Possibly intimidating for some, your initiation is complete when your fingers get baptized as you shell shrimp and soak up the the left over juices with your garlic bread.

Taste buds satisfied, a mariachi trumpet sounds off behind you and an elderly couple gets up and starts dancing. Seagulls are on the prowl for spilled bits and a ship’s horn burps somewhere in the port. The lobster arcade game still sits idle. Just another day at San Pedro Fish Market.

San Pedro Fish Market
1190 Nagoya Way, Berth 78
San Pedro, CA 90731
(310) 832-4251
Mon-Sun 8am-8pm

(Source: palateburn)